14-year-old chess champ Susal dreams of becoming a Grand Master
Susal de Silva of Nalanda College took a giant leap towards achieving his dream of becoming Chess Grand Master when he emerged champion at the 7th Sri Lanka Men’s Chess Grand Prix 2020 at the Chess Federation Headquarters in Nugegoda last Sunday.
His journey began when he received a chess board as a birthday gift and the 14-year-old seems destined for greatness in the world of chess as he secured the crown convincingly scoring nine points out of possible 11 games and drew the final game with E. D. S. Chandula of Colombo University.
One of the most promising chess players in the country, Susal walked away with the glittering champions trophy along with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/- and a Gold medal.
He first started schooling in the sacred city of Anuradhapura at D.S. Senanayake Primary School and started playing chess with his father on the chess board he received on his birthday. Seeing the talents of his son, his father gave him all the encouragement by sending him to chess classes in Anuradhapura.
Later joining Nalanda College, Colombo, Susal got the opportunity to compete with rated players and made this young lad improve at a rapid speed in dominating the chess board. Susal paid a glowing tribute to his former coaches in Anuradhapura, Milinda Ratnayake and Akila Kavinda, for recognising his talents and guiding him to the position where he is now.
He marked his entry into the competitive road of chess by winning the Anuradhapura District Championship in the Under-6-7 age group and in 2014 by winning the third spot in the All- Island Championship. The same year, he was selected to represent Sri Lanka at the World Youth Championship held in South Africa.
Susal went from strength to strength in Colombo as he won the All Island Championship in 2015 in the Under-9 age category. He toured Thailand to compete in the World Championship and Singapore for the Asian Championship in 2015.
A member of the Nalanda team that won the All-Island Under-14 and the Under-11 championships in 2017, Susal toured Romania for the World Schools Grand Prix.
Chess being a game of concentration, this talented youngster says to improve his concentration reads a lot of books on chess and works all the puzzles in the books.
Susal’s main target is to become a Grand Master – to be the first from Sri Lanka and make the country a force to be reckoned in the chess world.
The Sri Lanka Women’s Grand Prix commenced yesterday at the same venue and will continue until August 2. Sachini Ranasinghe, Dinukshi Premanath, Nelunika Methmani, Ashvini Avachandran, Tharushi Niklesha, Janadani Abeysinghe, Linaya Ramanayake along with young stars Oneli Weerawardene, Prasansa Premanath, Sandeepani Tharushi and Sayumi Gamage will battle for supremacy in this 11 round Round Robin event.